Looking forward: paving the way for a UN agenda for action on biodiversity

Several UN-wide initiatives can help build momentum and mobilize action in support of biodiversity. At the start of the 2021-2030 decade, several high-profile events focusing on biodiversity will be convened by and/or within the UN system50. These critical global leadership events could and should be complemented by activities of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, the UN Decade on Family Farming, the UN Decade of Action to deliver the Global Goals and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development that collectively will outline the future and help build momentum for biodiversity-related actions within the UN system and those of its partners.

The year 2020 precedes the decade in which the world must «flatten the curve» of biodiversity loss, adopt transformative change and put biodiversity and the economy on a path to recovery, which is the precise intention of the post-2020 gloal biodiversity framework being negotiated under the auspices of the CBD. To succeed in this agenda, the UN needs to build political momentum to catalyse a decade of action for people, planet and climate. The decade 2021-2030 is not only the last chance to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but is likely to indicate the pathway for the well-being of humanity as well as planetary health during the rest of the 21st century.

Engaging and empowering new and existing constituencies across sectors and society will be essential. Progress in building a new relationship with nature will require building on complementary capacities from across the UN system of global entities and

50 These include the UN Ocean Conference in Portugal, the UN Summit on Biodiversity convened by the UN General Assembly, the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP-15 and the meetings of the Parties to its Protocols) in China, the UN Climate Conference (UNFCCC COP-26) in Glasgow (Scotland, UK), the UN Food Systems Summit and the UNCTAD 15th Ministerial Conference in Barbados. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, most of these have recently been postponed beyond 2020.

regional commissions to unlock new resources and partnerships for biodiversity. Enhancing synergies among multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) will also provide integration and efficiency in implementing the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Finally, strengthening partnerships with civil society organizations and environmental defenders who are on the frontline protecting biodiversity will also be key to achieving biodiversity goals in an effective manner.

To be successful, actions will be needed to address both the direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss, encourage sustainable use of biodiversity, and help to catalyse ecosystem restoration over the decade as a basis for progress towards the SDGs. Mainstreaming biodiversity across sectors and the wider implementation of nature-based solutions will be critical. The entire UN system has a central role to play in these efforts, knowing that biodiversity serves as a safety net for humanity by buffering us from the impacts of climate change, sustaining our health and well-being and maintaining economies. Therefore, harnessing the power of nature for sustainable development, as well as for its intrinsic values, is key to securing the future health, security and well-being for vulnerable people now ever-more imperilled by the COVID-19 crisis that threatens to throw millions back into poverty.

Building on the analysis completed for this report, and from the evidence of the need to transform our relationship with biodiversity, the actions required for the UN to fully realize its potential during the 2021-2030 decade can be grouped under four areas:

I. Support country abilities to halt biodiversity loss and to sustainably use and enhance biodiversity through policies and programmes

As relevant and in line with their mandates, UN agencies will support Member States in the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the biodiversity-related elements of the SDGs, with a focus on improving enabling conditions, data, investments and other means of implementation. This will require mainstreaming biodiversity for sustainable development, in particular within the UN’s Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework51 ,

51 https://unsdg.un.org/resources/united-nations-sustainable-development-cooperation-framework-guidance as well as integrating biodiversity with other key areas of strategic planning (e.g. hunger and poverty reduction, food and agriculture, human health and well-being, climate action, sustainable forest management and zero deforestation, ocean ecosystems, infrastructure, trade, energy, finance, national accounting, governance, human rights including indigenous peoples’ rights, and justice) to realize multiple benefits as well as address potential trade-offs and avoid negative impacts on nature. Equally important is the need to mainstream national criminal justice and preventive responses into national biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development agendas in line with the SDGs.

More specifically, UN agencies at global and regional scales, UN Resident Coordinators, UN Country Teams and activities supported through country, regional and global policies and programmes can:

• Integrate biodiversity and climate responses into their core offer and mandate in ways that both address the drivers of the crises, including market and governance failures, and put emphasis on “nature-based solutions” for climate mitigation and adaptation52 and sustainable development, in coordination with the UN Sustainable

Development Group (UNSDG)53 .

• Enhance data54, capacity and know-how for national planning55 , 56 implementation, monitoring57 and reporting processes, as well as harnessing science, technology and innovation for biodiversity. This involves not only helping countries to incorporate biodiversity considerations in their planning, but also to support countries to assess biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to monitor and share data to track progress towards national and global targets58 .

52 https://www.unglobalcompact.org/take-action/events/climate-action-summit-2019/nature-based-solutions 53 https//unsdg.un.org 54 https://environmentlive.unep.org/sdgpolicybrief 55 https://sdgintegration.undp.org/ 56 https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/25655/ LawBiodiversity_Strategies.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 57 https://www.un-spbf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Digital-Ecosystem-final.pdf 58 https://wesr.unep.org

• Use most updated evidence and analysis to track emerging issues of biodiversity concern59 and inform decision-makers of the risks, and provide guidance and assistance as required. This involves catalysing planning and monitoring systems that reduce the human footprint and promote maintaining a national nature-based safety net to reduce risk of emerging zoonotic diseases.

• Support Member States in the development of human rights-based legal, institutional and policy frameworks that regulate and promote the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment and the protection of biodiversity. In particular, this means supporting efforts to strengthen governance and the environmental rule of law for the protection of biodiversity and human rights, including with respect to land, water and natural resource use and ownership, especially for women, indigenous peoples, local communities and environmental activists. Actions in this respect should be aligned with the Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human

Rights60 and its focus on the rights of future generations, climate justice and the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment61, and in compliance with actions taken under the UN Guiding

Principles on Business and Human Rights for All that may affect biodiversity.

• Promote the inclusion of ambitious biodiversity and climate goals and targets into national policies; support country capacity and mobilize investments including access to bilateral and multilateral financing mechanisms for the purpose of implementing

59 https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/fron tiers-201819-emerging-issues-environmental-concern 60 https://www.un.org/sg/sites/www.un.org.sg/files/atoms/files/ The_Highest_Asperation_A_Call_To_Action_For_Human_ Right_English.pdf 61 A rights-based approach to biodiversity action should, inter alia, address biodiversity loss and its negative impacts on human rights; recognize the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities to their traditional knowledge, lands, resources and territories; ensure the participation of rights-holders, including indigenous peoples and local communities, women and girls and youth, in decision-making related to conservation, sustainable use and equitable distribution of the benefits of biodiversity; respect and protect the cultural, religious, spiritual, aesthetic and recreational values associated with biodiversity, including the human rights to culture and freedom of religion, and the right of children to play; protect environmental human rights defenders from harm; and ensure the righs to participation, access to information and access to justice. related activities and measures, and national efforts for the repurposing of available financial resources.

• Incorporate use of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework as a priority in the UN’s Development

Account62 programme and encourage UN interagency-led capacity development projects.

• Support country capacity and access to bilateral and multilateral financing mechanisms for the purpose of implementing related activities and measures, and support national efforts for the repurposing of available financial resources.

Taken together, these actions could have a significant impact in terms of improving the capacities of Member States to halt biodiversity loss and enhance ecosystems’ integrity.

II. Establish strong coalitions for biodiversity

Building on their existing complementarities and in line with UN reform, the new approach of UN Country teams and UN Sustainable Development Regional Coordination, including issue-based coalitions, UN entities can play a key role in ensuring comprehensive approaches to biodiversity. The work of UN entities and such issue-based coalitions can also serve to strengthen biodiversity-related actions in the current and ongoing work of the UN in support of countries, such as the NBSAP Forum, the UN Biodiversity Lab and UNCTAD BioTrade Initiative.

Such coalitions can be powerful tools to integrate biodiversity in other key areas (such as climate, food and agriculture, health, investment63, infrastructure and extractive industries, trade64, energy, finance65, chemicals and green technologies 66) in ways that realize multiple benefits and avoid negative impacts on biodiversity at global, regional, national and local levels. Examples of the potential for such coalitions to be formed and strengthened are described in boxes 3 and 4.

62 https://www.un.org/development/desa/da/ 63 https://www.unepfi.org/net-zero-alliance/ 64 https://unctad.org/en/Pages/DITC/Trade-and-Environment/

BioTrade.aspx 65 https://www.greengrowthknowledge.org 66 http://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/han dle/20.500.11822/22205/Science-Policy-Business-Forum%20 Pogramme%202017.pdf?sequence=86&isAllowed=y

Box 3. Working with the chemical conventions and initiatives to address drivers of biodiversity loss: the case of pesticides

Pesticides can have a significant impact on biodiversity. For example, pesticides, particularly insecticides, have been demonstrated to have a broad range of lethal and sublethal effects on pollinators under controlled experimental conditions (IPBES, 2016). The governance of pesticides falls within the governance of chemicals more broadly. The Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions are central global instruments in the international governance of chemicals and wastes. In addition, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer controls the production and consumption of methyl bromide, a pesticide that is a powerful ozone-depleting substance. The international multi-stakeholder chemical initiative Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) also plays a critical role in chemicals’ governance by engaging governments, the chemical industry and other civil society actors, such as NGOs, with the potential to work on issues beyond those in the conventions’ own mandates reached by consensus in multilateral negotiations.

The post-2020 global biodiversity framework will address pollution as a major driver of biodiversity loss, as well as the sustainable management of production landscapes and seascapes, as being essential to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. To strengthen the implementation of the new framework, a stronger synergy between the biodiversity and the chemicals conventions will be critical to achieve success. For pesticides, this mostly concerns the Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions and SAICM. To accomplish this, several pathways and initiatives can be envisaged, for example:

1. At the level of the conventions, joint action plans could be developed, with dedicated processes and accountability to their respective COPs. This approach could be explored through the work of Parties in the relevant bodies of the respective conventions and by their secretariats within the mandates provided to them.

2. At the national level, the focal points and authorities responsible for the CBD, other biodiversity-related conventions, the chemicals conventions and other relevant conventions and organizations including the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), could collaborate more closely to bring attention to the importance of adding pesticides to the chemicals conventions’ annexes and to coordinate work on finding safer alternatives, particularly for highly hazardous pesticides. In this regard, they can also work on coordinating their respective national policy instruments (such as agricultural subsidies) to reflect these synergies, and coordinate national planning, reporting and review mechanisms to increase efficiencies and improve coherence.

3. The multi-stakeholder platforms associated with the chemicals and biodiversity agendas provide an opportunity to enhance synergies, since actors of civil society also tend to work separately on these issues. Having biodiversity actors more actively engage with SAICM discussions, and chemicals actors engage in the CBD agenda and its discussions, could help in sharing of experiences and in building similar expectations for change (Kinniburgh and

Rankovic, 2019).

Box 4. Using global and national policy instruments to increase synergies: Biodiversity and Climate Change

Despite the interrelationships of the issues they address, national policy instruments such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Land Degradation Neutrality targets (LDNs) and NBSAPs) are still mostly developed in isolation from one another. To support the integration of ambitious climate change and biodiversity action in national policies, increased and coordinated action is needed internationally in science (for example between the respective scientific communities, IPCC and IPBES), international governance bodies (for example between the COPs to UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD and Vienna Convention) and in civil society networks. Liaison mechanisms between convention secretariats play an important role that could be reinforced. These can be complemented by ongoing and future developments. IPBES is collaborating with IPCC on a co-sponsored workshop on biodiversity and climate change, and developing plans for a technical paper on the same subjects, as well as strengthened cooperation67 in the form of a joint product between the IPCC and IPBES, which could be useful to improve the evidence base on these complex interactions. The CBD COP has provided numerous elements of guidance on biodiversity and climate change68 and its Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) has continued to explore the emerging science69. Consideration could be given by the respective COPs to the establishment of a work programme between the two conventions; for example, through a joint workplan between the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the CBD SBSTTA to assess the scientific basis of the best options for coordinated action on climate change and biodiversity. Another idea could be for the respective Subsidiary Bodies on Implementation (SBIs) of the two Conventions to prepare guidance for the development of NDCs that include biodiversity concerns, and NBSAPs that reflect climate objectives. Such structured initiatives at the international level could help bring the national authorities for climate change and biodiversity closer together at the national level and stimulate synergies in relation to these topics with civil society groups.

67 Decision IPBES-7/1: Rolling work programme of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services up to 2030. 68 CBD Decision 14/5, CBD/COP/DEC/14/5: Biodiversity and climate change. 69 CBD/SBSTTA/23/INF/1: Review of new scientific and technical information on biodiversity and climate change and potential implications for the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

This would require the development and promotion of inclusive, multi-stakeholder alliances to reconnect people and biodiversity: for example, a proposed UNESCO and UNEP “Coalition for Nature” would support greater engagement across sectors of society on nature, and greater solidarity and equity between generations and stakeholders in the relationship between people and nature.

There is a need to further develop a common UN narrative on the essential role of biodiversity for sustainable development; improved communications on and advocacy for the interrelated biodiversity, climate and ocean agendas; and strengthened advocacy within and beyond the UN system including through the voices of biodiversity ambassadors and champions.

When strengthening coordination and coalitions for biodiversity to improve synergies in support of national actions, UN agencies should consider the potential contribution of such coalitions to:

• Address the drivers of biodiversity loss across UN programmes, and mainstream biodiversity in the UN

Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.

• Promote the adoption of green and circular economy approaches,70 , 71 along with other sustainable practices, to transform global consumption and production systems and ensure food security and better health outcomes for communities, while reducing emissions and other forms of environmental pollution and degradation. One way to do this would be to encourage countries to build on work of the SEEA framework to promote the transformation of financial and incentive systems, redirect private finance towards biodiversity-inclusive actions and nature-based solutions, and accelerate the creation of a planetary safety net72 for disaster73 and climate resilience and inclusive development. to include biodiversity in their work, and also with regional and sub-regional alliances and action plans on biodiversity (for example, the ones taking place within the UNEP regional seas programmes)74 .

• Support enhanced synergies among MEAs and the UN system, and take leadership roles in strengthening MEAs’ implementation.

• Support the establishment of inclusive, multi-stakeholder global alliances for people and biodiversity with a focus on how to reconnect with, appropriately appreciate and value nature, intergenerational equity and the passing on of the values of nature and living things to future generations.

• Promote the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework at all levels, as well as the engagement of all concerned stakeholders to mobilize action.

• Strengthen engagement with business and the private sector75 to support its incorporation of biodiversity as a priority, and recognize nature-related business risks and the private sector’s role in solutions.

• Liaise with existing platforms for science and financing set up by the UN Secretary-General and others • In view of the need for a consolidated UN system-wide response to mainstream biodiversity into

COVID-19 recovery programmes/building back better, the EMG can play a stronger role in supporting biodiversity mainstreaming into this process.

• Building on the experiences of joint action plans around specific topics within the SDGs (such as the

Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All76 on the health-related SDGs), and recognising the importance of biodiversity for the achievement of the SDGs, develop a similar Joint Action

Plan for Biodiversity, that would help to enhance collaboration among UN entities and accelerate progress toward the biodiversity-related SDG targets, including through better reflection of biodiversity in national and regional UN planning.

70 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=400&nr=126&menu=1515 71 https://www.unido.org/our-focus-cross-cutting-services/circular-economy 72 https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/blog/2020/protecting-humanitys-safety-net-.html 73 https://www.undrr.org/implementing-sendai-framework/whatsendai-framework

74 https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/oceansseas/what-we-do/working-regional-seas/regional-seas-programmes 75 https://www.unepfi.org 76 https://www.who.int/sdg/global-action-plan/frequently-asked-questions ------- 33 -------

III. Mainstream biodiversity in UN internal operations

UN agencies need to strengthen biodiversity awareness and capacities for biodiversity conservation and enhancement within the UN system. In line with the UN Sustainability Strategy 2020-203077 and the objective for “Greening the Blue”, and with the recent EC and CEB decisions, UN agencies should strive to address the drivers of biodiversity loss and embed biodiversity standards in their procurement, project and programme planning and implementation, as well as “avoid adverse impacts on biodiversity from UN facilities, operations and activities”78. In particular they should:

• Assess both the contributions to and impacts on biodiversity79 from the perspective of their own mandates, and identify, develop, implement and scale up best practices for the sustainable use, development, conservation and enhancement of biodiversity, as part of their operations and policies80 , 81 , 82 .

• Embed biodiversity safeguards in procurement, project and programme planning and implementation, including ensuring to the extent possible that the sources of project funding from the private sector come from «biodiversity responsible» ones.

• Consider how public-private partnerships, particularly those making use of knowledge gained in mainstreaming biodiversity concerns in the private sector, can be used as a model for similar operations within and across the UN system.

• Develop a UN system-wide mechanism for exchange of information and «best practices» for mainstreaming biodiversity in the UN’s internal operations. Thus, there is much that can be done within individual UN agencies, as well as between coalitions of agencies and across the entirethrough the whole UN system, to conduct and manage operations in a manner that will have great impact in safeguarding the integrity of biodiversity, and lead to greater ecosystems’ viability in the medium- to long-term.

IV. Enhance UN-wide coherence and follow-up on biodiversity

One of the many assets of the UN system is its diversity, providing members with a wide range of competences and know-how across its funds, programmes, specialized agencies and regional bodies. These allow the UN to respond to local, national and regional specificities and to focus on different issues and sectors, but at the same time can also lead to individual agencies working alone in narrowly-focused silos.

This challenges the capacity of the UN to address complex and interconnected issues such as biodiversity loss. In that regard, full benefit should be made from initiatives such as the UN «decades» (the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration83, the Decade of Action to deliver the Global Goals84 and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development85) which involve many UN agencies with complementary mandates to reflect the new vision for more coordinated approaches across the UN system and allowing for comprehensive and inclusive approaches.

Furthermore, in order to be more effective and efficient and to enhance UN-wide actions, the UN system will need to consider measures to enhance and strengthen system-wide cooperation and coordination on biodiversity. These measures could include:

77 https://unemg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/INF_3_Strategy-for-Sustainability-Management-in-the-UN-System.pdf 78 See: https://unemg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FINAL_ Model_Approach_ES-Standards-1.pdf & https://www.unsystem.org/content/addendum-strategy-sustainability-management-united-nations-system-2020-2030 79 At the level of genetic resources, ecosystem and/or species. 80 http://www.fao.org/state-of-biodiversity-for-food-agriculture/en/ 81 https://www.who.int/globalchange/ecosystems/biodiversity/en/ 82 Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2009). Biodiversity, Development and Poverty Alleviation: Recognizing the Role of Biodiversity for Human Well-being. Montreal. 83 https://www.decadeonrestoration.org 84 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/decade-of-action/ 85 https://www.oceandecade.org

• Development of a common narrative across the

UN on biodiversity in the context of sustainable development and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Such an approach would lead to clearer communications on and stronger advocacy for biodiversity, and help to break down existing unilateral approaches to biodiversity A joint but subsidiary approach using the complementary mandates of UN agencies would be more cost-efficient and, through a common language, be more consistent.

A starting point could be to mobilize demand for action through unified global and locally-adapted campaigns for the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

• Undertake further analysis of and communicate the implications for people and the planet if biodiversity is not dealt with as a priority objective by the global community. At the present time, this could have a particular focus on zoonoses, highlighting the underlying causes of increased risk of zoonotic diseases and the importance of addressing the trends driving their more frequent emergence.

These trends include an increasing demand for animal protein, a rise in intense and unsustainable farming, the increased use and exploitation of wildlife and the climate crisis. Doing so would help to prevent the transfer of viruses and other pathogens from nature to human systems. Improved biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management need to be embedded in long-term mitigation and prevention measures, and increased focus given to addressing wildlife trafficking and the introduction of wild-sourced species into legal value chains, as key actions to prevent future pandemics stemming from zoonotic pathogens.

• Building on the process established under the

EMG to facilitate UN contributions in developing the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, catalyse engagement across the UN system to implement a common approach on biodiversity, engaging its leadership and coordination mechanisms at the global, regional and national levels to implement the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, including at (sub-)regional level under the leadership of regional commissions. • Consider developing a voluntary UN system-wide monitoring and reporting scheme on UN entities’ contributions to the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework in line with their mandates and as part of their commitments to the implementation of the SDGs. One option to develop and implement such a scheme could be through establisment of an EMG Issue

Management Group on Biodiversity for the period 2021-2030. This Group would also facilitate a

UN system-wide exchange of information, «best practices» for mainstreaming biodiversity in the

UN’s programmes and operations, as well as supporting the development of a common narrative across the UN on biodiversity in the context of sustainable development and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

In this regard, the UN System could promote better reflection of biodiversity–related issues in the SDGs’ follow-up and review structure, particularly by ensuring proper reflection of biodiversity in the Voluntary National Reviews submitted by Countries to the HLPF on Sustainable Development. This would provide support to the HLPF in fulfilling its mandate, and increase both the visibility and commitments of stakeholders towards the biodiversity agenda.

Concluding Message

In summary, this document set outs a roadmap towards a coherent, inclusive, pro-active and collective approach by the United Nations system to achieve the objectives of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and facilitate progress towards the 2050 vision of “living in harmony with nature”, building on existing commitments. Only deeply transformative change and collective measures by the global community will allow to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and ensure its sustainable use and restoration in support of delivering the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the coming decade. The highly catalytic and synergistic actions proposed in the «Looking Forward» section of this document offer a road map to such UN system-wide effort on biodiversity, along with a practical and realistic means for the United Nations to deliver its support for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.